


in which the black masks have a talk

by Squiped_Mew



Series: In Which Things Are A Little Different [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi Goro Has A Palace, Akechi Goro Redemption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Haru Okumura Is About To Go Apeshit, Haru being Haru, Illustrations, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jin Jazz Club, Murder, Patricide, Plotting, Shido Masoyoshi is an asshole, Why Did I Write This?, dun dun dun, had actually, nothing serious but i figured i should put it there, once again kinda, read previous for better context, tanks in this one dont worry, until she isnt, we do not stan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26235229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiped_Mew/pseuds/Squiped_Mew
Summary: As if summoned, a sleek black car rolls up, and someone steps out. “Sorry I’m late!” Puffy hair unmistakable even under the hat she’s wearing, Haru Okumura walks up to the entrance, smiling at a scowling Akechi. “We were having some car issues.”“I know you’re a fashionably late kind of person, but would it have killed you to fix your car earlier?” Akechi remarks.Haru laughs. “Well, I didn’t really know until just now.” She says, before pushing the dark doors open. “Shall we?”“You were the one who invited me after all.”OR: Haru and Akechi have a talk about what transpired in Kunikazu Okumura's Palace, and the events surrounding his death.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Okumura Haru, Akechi Goro & Shido Masayoshi, Okumura Haru & Okumura Kunikazu, Shido Masayoshi & Haru Okumura
Series: In Which Things Are A Little Different [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905544
Comments: 12
Kudos: 162





	in which the black masks have a talk

**Author's Note:**

> plot dump time
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/

Jazz Jin wasn’t really someplace you’d go in the daytime. It’s dim lighting and softer, mildly sultry jazz songs that the place was known for lends itself to a nighttime atmosphere, someplace to get pleasantly buzzed with your friends and have a good time.

And yet. Here he was.

  
  


Goro Akechi looks down at his watch, time reading ‘12:45’. The person in question was supposed to have shown up at 12:30. 

If there’s one thing that bugs him more then others, it’s late people. 

  
  
  
  


As if summoned, a sleek black car rolls up, and someone steps out. “Sorry I’m late!” Puffy hair unmistakable even under the hat she’s wearing, Haru Okumura walks up to the entrance, smiling at a scowling Akechi. “We were having some car issues.”

“I know you’re a fashionably late kind of person, but would it have killed you to fix your car earlier?” He remarks. 

Haru laughs. “Well, I didn’t really know until just now.” She says, before pushing the dark doors open. “Shall we?”

“You were the one who invited me after all.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Since it's so early in the day, the club is mostly empty, a few people loitering about. Here and there. Haru gets them a booth, and orders drinks. “Coffee?” She asks. Akechi shakes his head. “Tea then.” He doesn’t want tea either, but something tells him not to object. 

  
  


It’s silent for a few minutes, lost in their respective thoughts, both of them listening to the jazz singer croon on into the microphone. It’s a different one from nighttime - perhaps they did shifts. Did the singers have punch clocks or something? He chuckles a bit at that mental image; A fancy singer punching a hole in their card. The mundanity of it feels absurd to him right now. 

  
  


“Isn’t this place lovely?” Haru asks, sipping her tea. “I’ll have to thank Akira for recommending it to me - though he said you recommended it to him, so I guess, in a roundabout way, I should be thanking you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Akechi replies, wondering how exactly he should approach the situation. 

  
  


More silence.

  
  
  


“Let’s cut to the chase.” Akechi finally says, thinking being direct is probably his best bet. “Why did you call me here?”

Haru pauses, taking another sip of her tea. “Having company is nice.” She finally says faintly. “This club is made for it, don’t you think?”

Akechi says nothing, only glaring at her. 

“...I guess you’re not much of a small talk person.” Haru sighs.

“I’ve always found it annoying.” Akechi replies, stirring his lukewarm tea. “And something tells me you didn’t take me here to chat.”

“Oh, but I did.” Haru responds, and there’s an edge of darkness in her tone. “After all, I got the impression that’s what you wanted to do last week.”

Right. Last week.

  
  


It had been a week since he had awoken his Persona, and a week since he enlisted Akira’s help for Sae’s Palace, knowing storming it on his own would likely end in him dying in some stupid way. That, and he owed the group - especially Makoto - the truth. Sae was a close acquaintance of his, after all, even if he felt like she didn’t care for him all that much. 

He’s still not quite sure where his status is in the Phantom Thieves group itself. Was he a member? A freeloader? Was this some kind of internship kind of situation? Akira had told him not to worry, but he still got the impression the rest of the group was wary of him - for good reason, he figured. 

But Haru - she’s different. 

He thinks back to the figure in the ballgown, the first time he had entered the Metaverse, into Kunikazu Okumura’s mind. He looks back on him getting shot. 

Who had shot him?

  
  


Well, the answer laid right in front of him. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


“...You saw me.” Akechi finally says. “At your father’s Palace.”

Haru sips her tea quietly. 

“I did.” She admits quietly. 

“So you admit it.” 

“Perhaps.”

  
  


There’s a pause. 

Akechi’s not sure what to say to the person in front of him. He has so many questions - but one slips out before he can stop himself. 

  
  


“Why?” 

  
  


Haru looks up at him. 

  
  


“Why?” She parrots. Almost mockingly.

  
  


“You call him my father,” She starts. “But you don’t realize what I saw in there. How he viewed people - his own workers. How he viewed me.” She inhales, and exhales, blowing on her tea. “He stopped being my father the moment I knew he would sacrifice me for his own gain.”

“...So you killed him.”

“It wasn’t my choice.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Haru looks around, as if scanning the parameters, before leaning in. “Masayoshi Shido.” She whispers. “Do you know him?”

“Isn’t he that politician?” Akechi responds. “What about him?”

“How about Sugamura?”

“That… that rich guy who committed suicide a few weeks ago?” A picture is starting to be painted for him - and it’s not one he likes.

  
  


“I met Shido at a party.” Haru says. “He wasn’t like the other guests there - he said he understood my pain. He said that I was wasting my gifts - that someone had been vouching for me.” He has a distinct flashback to that cursed face he had seen in Theater Five. “And, if I helped him, he would save me from my own father in return.”

“So… then what?”

“I was set to be Sugamura’s fiance per my father’s orders.” Haru continues. “I, of course, was thoroughly disgusted by the idea - and this man was so vile, so _disgusting_ , that I -” Haru regains her poise and continues. “Excuse me. But, as I was saying, Shido had great power. And so, a few days after deciding to work with him, Sugamura turns up dead.”

“Wait.” Akechi stops her. “I remember - haven’t there been a lot of influential people and politicians who have committed suicide or had strokes recently?” His mind is racing. “So - so all of that -”

“Slitting your wrists is a good way to look like you did it yourself,” Haru says sadly. “And Shido knew that. However, orchestrating a death in the real world is much harder than simply sending someone to eliminate your rivals in the MetaVerse.”

“So…” Akechi feels bile rise up in the back of his throat. “That’s what all those strokes were - that was you?”

“Correct.” Haru replies. “Shido sent me to eliminate his rivals.”

“Including your father.”

“Even if I hadn’t wanted to, there was no way I could disobey Shido now.” She smiles coyly, taking another sip of her tea. “And he’s smart. He figured out very quickly that I had no plans to work with him after Kunikazu was disposed of.” The way she used her father’s first name instead of calling him ‘father’ like she did before - it made his stomach curl. “I don’t care for crooked men, especially politicians.”

“So he knows you’re planning to double cross him.” Akechi says. “Then - why doesn’t he just get rid of you?”

“Because I’m an asset.” Haru says, and she almost sounds proud of the fact. “His ace in the hole. Not to mention that I’m too dangerous to be let loose.”

“So… so you’ve got yourselves in a proverbial stalemate.” Akechi realizes, pieces slotting together in his mind. “You can’t get rid of him, because you’re not strong enough, and you can’t leave because he’d just kill you. But _he_ can’t get rid of you because you’re the reason why he’s doing so well in the political field, and he has no idea you aren’t strong enough to take him out.” 

“You catch on fast.”

“It’s kind of my job.”

“Akira’s next.” Akechi spits out his tea, all over Haru’s perfect pinafore. 

“ _Excuse_ me?!” Haru takes a handkerchief out of her pocket, not even missing a beat, and wipes down her top. “Are - are you saying that -”

“The Phantom Thieves are a variable he never anticipated.” Haru starts. “A wrench thrown into his plans. He knows they have the same powers that I do, and he knows that Akira’s the leader.” 

“How?”

“Because I told him.” 

  
  


A pause.

  
  


“What did you expect?” Haru says, and her words don’t match her sweet tone. “In order to fool your enemies, you’ve got to put on a convincing act. And I’m _very_ good at playing the sweet and obedient little girl.”

“Then -”

“Yes. He knows who all of you are. And he’s coming for you.” And Haru leans in close, close enough that Akechi can see the darkness in her eyes. 

“But I will not let that happen.”

  
  
  


The song ends, and another one starts. It’s a mournful jazz ballad.

  
  
  
  


“I don’t understand.” Akechi says. “You sold us out - but you don’t want to kill us?”

“Of course not.” Haru replies. “Why would I want to hurt my friends?”

“Friends?!” Akechi sneers. “Friends don’t sell each other out to corrupt politicians.”  
  


“Friends also don’t spend four months having passive aggressive tension with each other, but yet, here you are.”

Akechi opens his mouth, and then closes it.

  
  


“Sae’s palace is a trap.” Haru begins, tracing circles on the wooden table. “When the treasure’s been taken, the police will catch Akira, take him in. Then, after he’s interrogated, I will be sent in, and - well, you know what happens to people when they get shot in the head.”

“...Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know you, out of everyone, can stop this.” Haru leans back, face grave and drawn. “You’re the wrench thrown into the wrench - an extra variable in Shido’s plan. I know if I told anyone else this, they would do something stupid - but you’re much more rational then the rest of them. No offense, of course.”

“None taken.” Akechi replies dryly. “But then, why not just tell everyone?”

“Loose lips sink ships. And from what I’ve heard from Makoto, they’re not very good about secret keeping and stuff. Besides,” She looks around again. “I never know when someone could be with Shido.”

“That so?”

“He’s got eyes and ears everywhere. The reason I picked this club is because it’s owned by someone I know.”

Akechi frowns, brow crinkling. Akira getting shot - a trap - it was all a lot to process. But still, how was he supposed to stop this? 

“What if we avoid the trap?”

“Then another one will set, and Shido will know I betrayed him.”

“What if we don’t go to Sae’s?”

“Again, he’ll know.”

“What if we just run.”

“Then I’ll have to go after you.” The way she says it is so resigned, Akechi’s almost tempted to feel bad for her. 

Almost.

  
  


“I need a way to fake Akira’s death,” Haru starts, and he can hear a tiny shred of desperation seeping into her tone. “And I know you can do it. I can’t come up with anything - but you? You’re sharp. Probably the smartest person on the team.”

“You’re selling Makoto short, you know.”

“It’s a very different kind of smart.” Haru grabs his hand from across the table, thin gloves cold against his skin. “ _Please_ Akechi. I’m out of options. I want to stop Shido, but I can’t without your help. Not to mention he’s y -” She cuts herself off, looking like she was debating something inwardly, before continuing. “He’s going to take over the country and do horrible things if someone doesn’t stop him.”

  
  


Akechi considers his options.

  
  


Option A: He says ‘screw you’ to the mildly insane murderer in front of him, leaves, and lets Akira get killed. 

Option B: He says ‘screw you’ to the mildly insane murderer in front of him, leaves, and does all the things Haru told him _not_ to do. 

Option C: 

  
  


  
“Fine.” He grumbles, pulling his hand away. “But only because my life’s on the line here too.”

Haru nods. “Good choice.” (He briefly wonders what Haru might have done to him if he had said no - probably tortured him or something.) “We have until the end of this month to figure this out.”

“We?”

“I’ll try to help out the most that I can.”

  
  
“I don’t really want to be consorting with a girl who committed patricide, thanks.”

“You don’t really have a choice.”

“Fair.”

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Back at his apartment, he absentmindedly strokes Tank’s shell as he stares at the new board he had made, trying to piece together how one would believably fake someone’s death when no doubt Shido would want proof - maybe even a body. He could try and get someone to be Akira and die - but a quick DNA test would solve that. He could warn Akira, say he died, but that would be too obvious - and Haru would know otherwise. 

The phone rings. It’s Akira.

  
  


“Hey.” He says, sounding way too cheery for someone who was scheduled to be shot in a month (granted he didn’t know, but still) “We’re gonna try and head to Sae’s Palace tomorrow - you up for it?”

“Yeah.” Akechi manages to croak out. “Sure.”

  
  
  


Truth be told, he’s not really ready at all. 

  
  
  


But, looking at Tank, he has a sudden flashback to cognitive Tank in his palace. 

  
  


And he has an idea.

**Author's Note:**

> feral akechi is out. feral haru is in. 
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q


End file.
